INTEL DC P4500 SSD

Intel has a new SSD designed to squeeze even more storage into a 1U rack box, The form factor is likened to a ruler as it is a long assembly with a connector on the end. The DC P4500 is code named Cliffdale.

The goal of the new design is to reduce cooling costs while still being able to achieve 1PB in 1U of rack space. The colloquial name is the ruler or NGFF

Intel has designed this new card over the last 12 months with the intention of being able to have it installed in larger datacenters where space may be limited.

Each card is stuffed with large numbers of 32-layer 3D TLC NAND chips. Each card has 8TB of storage so a 1U chassis need several of these installed. The card uses 18W write and about 13W read. The idle power is about 4W. This means minimal cooling is needed even with a bunch of these installed.

Intel has a new controller logic for the series. Each card uses a PCIe x4 interface. Support for NVMe is standard. The cards have a 7.2PB write endurance rating. The MTBF is 2 million hours. The uncorrectable error rate is 1017 bit read.

The DC P4500 has 3200MB/s read speed and 1900MB/s write speed.

Tencent in Shenzhen, China will be using them with their popular social app Wechat as well as with their web servers,

We suspect that Intel will find a lot of customers for the new storage appliance as the year unfolds.

With 1PB we can expect that even our vast game library will fit with room to spare. Games lately have been getting bigger as game artwork becomes more complex.

Intel will also have U.2 versions of this new line for those with existing servers who want to boost performance.

Some desirable features like noticing when the power goes off the SSD can quickly react to prevent data loss. With a 5 year warranty, most users will be very happy as SSD technology is very durable.